Gossip

Alright, I have a confession to make.

I read Perez Hilton

What got me started on Perez Hilton was the whole Britney Spears shaving her head debacle. I found this gossip website that is no holds barred and I was all "dude, this guy is funny!" It didn't help matters when they made me Magazine Girl at my work and I kept pretty current on all the gossip rags there too. I couldn't resist, my life was far from extremely exciting at the time and some of this stuff is stranger then fiction!

Case in point, Britney Spears. Lindsay Lohan is another interesting cookie that I admit when she first came out as a child actor in Parent Trap I really liked. I don't like her much more, though I've never really liked Britney Spears but these people dig their own graves.

So, I guess the question is, why does society get caught up in the lives of spoiled and pampered super celebrities that are in the middle of career suicide? Why don't we get concerned with the important events of today like War and Poverty and Hunger and Disease and all of these issues that affect millions of people and become more aware of what is happening in Government, etc etc? Really, people are always harping on those that follow gossip rags about how they don't know anything about what's going on in the world other then the fact that Britney went out without underwear again.

To tell you the honest truth, I personally don't see a problem with getting caught up in the gossip. Why? Because it is something to do! Yes, it is important to stay in tune to current events but the problem with war and hunger and all of those things is that the only way to bring people's attention back to it is to shock them with it, and you can only shock a person so many times with this stuff until they move on to something else. People in general have a short attention span, you can only go on about a subject for so long before they grow tired and look towards something else to catch their attention. The War was big in a lot of people's minds back in 2001 and 2002, but as it drags on, news of what is happening over in the sandbox becomes routine for society that when they see it on the cover of their newspaper, they shrug their shoulders and turn the page to see what else is going on. It's sad, but the fact remains, people are going to be drawn to news that is fresh and different then the same old routine unless you can change it up a bit. People don't get appalled when you spout of statistics about the AIDS Epidemic in Africa because its been harped about for years that it doesn't catch interest anymore, even if it is important.

No, what they want is to be entertained, and unfortunately, the people who entertain is people like Britney Spears and her mess of a personal life. I'm sure she loves the attention, why else would she make such a spectacle of herself?

As long as they are entertaining, yes, I'll keep reading the gossip rags and websites like Perez Hilton.